Deregulation ahoy? Electricity Act executive regulations are out — a week ahead of schedule: The executive regulations for the Electricity Act — the first step in deregulating the sector — are out a week ahead of schedule and have been published on the Official Gazette. The executive regulations, which would see the state become the regulator and (separately) owner of transmission infrastructure, but not the sole market player. The regulations will establish a new regulator to set the price of power and oversee the activities of the private sector in the national grid. The regulations also lay out the conditions for production and distribution licenses, banning companies from piggybacking on another company’s license. Power transmission will be the sole purview of the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company, which is also charged with setting the conditions and strategy for deregulating the national grid at some future time. The EETC will also be charged with developing plans to expand the national grid for the next 5-10 years. Last week, Electricity Minister Mohamed Shaker stated that the executive regulations would take effect as soon as they were officially published. Al Borsa ran a copy of the regs which you can view here (pdf).